


Near Miss

by Nekhs



Series: Living After LIFE [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Actual Disaster Eddie Brock, California, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Empathy, Gender-Neutral Venom Symbiote (Marvel), My First Work in This Fandom, Other, POV Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Present Tense, Psychic Abilities, Season/Series 01, Serial Killers, Spider-Man Referenced, We Do NOT Eat Cops!, Will Graham at Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 18:24:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16770466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekhs/pseuds/Nekhs
Summary: In which two tales pass each other like ships in the darkness.Or:The difference between an antihero and a serial killer is often just whether or not they get caught.





	Near Miss

They’ve made a mistake. They haven't identified the mistake, yet, but they know they've made one, and whatever it is, it is a mistake Eddie is kicking himself over. 

Had there been a pattern? Had they left some sort of trail? 

They make a point of taking their prey from random points in the city. They can't vary the timing much, though, and they're choosy, picking prey that Eddie will accept as victims. 

This time, they hear the sirens before they're finished with the body. 

This is not their first murder to be investigated, only the first they've had interrupted. They're annoyed, a bit, but they should have expected some kind of a response by now.

They toss the body at the dumpster, the crumpled metal that had once been a gun following suit. Human refuse, nothing they needed. They move swiftly, going up, up and out of sight in a way no human could manage. 

But they watch. 

Why not? Humans are interesting. It will be good to see the humans who seek to hunt Venom. It will be good to hunt them. 

Evidence is collected. A new vehicle rolls up, a car that doesn't have any obvious markers.  _ Holy shit, V, that's the FB-fucking-I. _ A hint of panic enters Eddie's thoughts, panic that is only exacerbated by his fear of heights.  _ No hunting, V. Bad idea.  _

**We can eat them.**

_ No. We've been over this. _

He doesn't want to be an enemy of his country. He wants to fix it. 

If they become criminals, if Eddie is found, he cannot fix anything. He will make Venom flee, because he doesn't want to fight these people, no matter if they're bad or not. 

Why not? 

A human with messy, curly hair walks up to the fallen body, trailed by a man with dark skin. The curly-haired man investigates the scene, looking unsurprised by the carnage. 

Unsurprised, but tired. So, very tired. 

“Okay, then. Literally biting off heads - do you expect me to do something with an escaped zoo animal, Jack?” His voice is incredulous, but his eyes are everywhere. More than once, they trail up the side of the building, following Venom, but he cannot see them; he is human. 

The man shakes his head. “We have reason to believe the killer is - or  _ was _ \- human. Can you do it or not?” It's a simple question. 

“I - I don't know. What kind of evidence, fill me in.” He doesn't look at Jack, still inspecting everything about the site. “What about this says it's human?”

The darker male sighs. “No one's spotted any kind of loose animals who could do something like this, but several witnesses claim to have been ‘rescued’ by something that looks like a man in a suit - either a very large man, or a very large suit. I need to know what we're dealing with here, Will.  _ Can you do it.” _

He phrases it like a question, but he leaves no room for a ‘no.’ V doesn't like him - wants to eat him - but Eddie says no, and Eddie is their guide for dealing with humans. 

“A suit? What, so San Francisco's version of Spider-Man eats the heads? Are you thinking vigilante with a side of cannibalism, here?” He looks around the scene, uncertain. “I - I think I can? I don't know. I don't - know.”

The darker male nods, steps back. “Give it your best. All right, everyone, give the man the space he needs to work.”

And so, it begins. 

He closes his eyes, stepping back, hunching his shoulders. His eyes flutter closed, and they can sense something shifting in the air around him, something that fizzes like lightning. Power.

They're close enough they can hear his voice as he begins narrating. 

“We're hungry,” this stranger says. A chill of fear fills Eddie at the words. “Always hungry, always. There is no plan here, but if opportunity knocks, we will take it. We hunger, and I will provide. This is my design.”

He walks, pausing in the exact spot that Eddie had. “Opportunity comes. He is a mugger. He thinks himself strong. He thinks his gun will save him. We show that we are unarmed - ” The man lifts his hands in a good imitation of Eddie, surrendering. “ - to make him feel secure. We tell him this is a bad idea, to soothe our own conscience. This is necessary. We will die without it. That doesn't mean we have to like it.” A pause, he runs his tongue across his lower lip. “But  _ I  _ like it.”

“Of course, he doesn't listen.” The man stands straighter, dropping his arms. “We savor his shock. He shoots at our chest, and the bullets ricochet. We knew they would.” His left hand comes out, suddenly, snatching at the imaginary gun, just as they had. His right seizes something invisible. They know it's the man's collar. His left hand flexes - they’d destroyed the gun. 

His tongue lolls out obscenely, before his teeth snap together in a decent impression of Venom, biting off someone's head. 

He shudders, obviously distressed. 

He is only human, after all. They wonder if he could taste it, in his vision of what they had done. “We hear something. Sirens. We discard the gun, discard the body - we don't need these anymore. And … ” He presses his palm to his forehead, shuddering. “And it's gone,” he mutters, trembling in the darkness.

“Jack! This thing is still out here, somewhere!”

* * *

It is a tense night. A tense morning after. Eddie is terrified. He swears to find out why they need brains, specifically brains, because they almost got caught, and the idea terrifies him. 

He refuses to lose Venom. 

He refuses to lose  _ V. _

It's a tense week of seeking answers, of telling half truths, of not quite lying to Anne and Dan. V is back. They need help. Eddie didn't kill anyone. They don't elaborate on what V did. 

Annie knows, because she is smart. She sees through Eddie, but pretends she doesn't. It's better, she thinks - plausible deniability. 

They like Annie. They like how she thinks about things. They like her mind. If it had not been for Eddie, Annie would have been a good host for them. But, they have Eddie.

Dan does not know that they have killed any more people, because he is painfully normal, and chronically overworked. 

They ... do not hate Dan. This comes as a surprise to them. 

Eight months pass.

They manage to discover a supplement that stops the cravings. They take to hunting animals. They no longer draw attention to their actions. Things are quiet for Venom, and they find that they like quiet. 

They enjoy quiet, with Eddie.

They forget about the near-miss with the FBI. Their case goes cold. 

They find family, a family that loves them enough to save their lives. They tear the LIFE Foundation out of the desert by its very roots.

They love Eddie, they love San Francisco, they love their family, and they’re happy.

And then, Eddie tells them about the fires. 

**Author's Note:**

> California spends a disproportionate amount of time on fire to reasonably serve as a forever home to creatures that are vulnerable to fire, okay.
> 
> So, uh, hi! 
> 
> I saw the "Hannibal has Eddie for dinner" tumblr prompt, but the fills I read _more_ than do it justice. That got me interested in Hannibal, though, and I found Will to be especially interesting, which led to this fic, which will tie my previous story, [Offspring](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16484750/), into the next one I'm working on, titled [Observation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16771552/).


End file.
